Stephen Colbert Annihilates Ted Cruz (Video)

Ted Cruz was smacked with a healthy dose of reality during his Monday appearance on Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show.”

Colbert began by ripping Cruz over the ideological divide between Ronald Reagan and Cruz’s own political beliefs.

“Let me ask about Reagan for a second,” Colbert began, adding: “Reagan raised taxes, okay. Reagan actually had an amnesty program for illegal immigrants. Neither of those things would allow Reagan to be nominated today. So to what level can you truly emulate Ronald Reagan?”

After some cross-talk, Colbert pushed Cruz into a corner regarding his near-fanatical obsession with tax cuts and bigotry directed at immigrants

Could you agree with Reagan on those two things, raising taxes and amnesty for illegal immigrants?

Cruz replied, “no, of course not,” adding “but Ronald Reagan also signed the largest tax cut in history. He reduced government regulations from Washington and economic growth exploded.”

Colbert continued to push, pointing out that when circumstances changes – Reagan reversed course and rolled back those tax cuts:

But when conditions changed in the country, he reversed his world’s largest tax cut and raised taxes when revenues did not match the expectations, so it’s a matter of compromising.

Cruz opened the door to the subject of same-sex marriage when he declared that he is fighting for the United States to “follow the Constitution,” to which Colbert responded: “and no gay marriage.”